Religion
The morning light came up around them by degrees. No one was still; there were shaking maracas, beating drums, last-minute adjustments to pieces larger than an Alexander McQueen headdress. They moved their bodies in Mayan tradition—dancing as a form of prayer. Nearly 2000 Catholic worshipers gathered at East Oakland’s St. Louis Bertrand Church Saturday morning for a six mile pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Christ the Light, near Lake Merrit.
On Sunday morning at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, the sounds of high-pitched singing, a ringing organ and a mumbling congregation filled the huge cathedral as people tried to catch on to the new version of the Catholic Mass. Sunday, also the first day of Advent, was the first time the updated Mass text was used at English-speaking Catholic churches across the world.
On any given day, close to 90 clients come to God’s Gym for personal training from 49-year-old Gary Shields. Some clients lift heavy weights and work on their massive physiques. Others have more modest routines, toning or rehabbing injuries. The two-story storefront on the corner of Broadway and 25th Street is painted jet black from top to bottom. Images of two posed, flexing bodybuilders fill the front windows. One is a silhouette of Shields in his prime. Centered between the bright, bold white words of the gym’s name, is a painting of a buff, black Jesus breaking free of chains.
Oakland residents gathered outside St. Columba Catholic Church on Friday to honor the 102 people who have died because of violence in the past year.
At a Friday afternoon press conference outside the Interfaith Tent on Frank Ogawa Plaza, at the edge of the Occupy Oakland encampment, nine clergy members from around the East Bay made impassioned statements to media and passersby in defense of the camp following renewed calls to dismantle it in the wake of the fatal shooting nearby the night before.
Every village needs a church—or perhaps a non-denominational interfaith tent—to fill the spiritual needs of its inhabitants, and according to a recently formed group of Bay Area clergy, the Occupy Oakland encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza is no different.
The Oakland Museum of California was adorned with vibrant colors, packed with people wearing morbid costumes and smelled like fresh marigolds on Sunday afternoon for the museum’s 17th annual Dia de Muertos community celebration and exhibition.
Kids and adults with painted faces wandered around the museum’s lawn, buying handmade tortillas and jewelry, and dancing to Mexican music as they celebrated Día de Muertos, Spanish for “day of the dead.” The theme for the exhibition, which started October 12, is “Love & Loss.” The Dia de Muertos holiday is traditionally celebrated November 1 and 2.
Last Wednesday, Temple Sinai kicked off their first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, which supplies produce boxes of fresh, organic vegetables and fruits from nearby Eatwell Farms.
In recent years, Oakland has emerged as a major entry point for Mongolian immigrants. Nine years after Oktyabri’s arrival, more than 1,000 are believed to live in Oakland’s downtown alone, with more living in surrounding neighborhoods.